Marcel Agueros

Atoms, observing stars, composition of stars, star classification

I learned a lot of stellar astrophysics this semester. Specifically about types of star, how the conduct nuclear fusion, their surface/observable values, etc

Light, but still more than some other intro astro classes: in-class lecture tutorials are 5% of grade, basically attendance two midterms (each done individually and with a partner for the best possible grade) homework assignments almost every week (can be kind of hard, might require some googling as you often haven't gotten to the material in class)

Four problem sets - difficult, but do-able. Midterm presentation - fun, and graded pretty nicely. Oral final - slightly less difficult than the PSets, but with the added bonus of having Marcel help you towards an answer every 20 seconds. All in all, not bad at all.

DO NOT TAKE THIS MAN!!! The comments below are wayy too forgiving. The avg. grade in this class was a 60. Yes he curved, but he was not specific on how he was going to curve, so he kept you wondering throughout the semester. As one student put it, he's like a TA gone wild! His exams, quizzes and homework assignments are ALL written in abstract form and they are ALL trick questions. Some of the questions didn't even have the right answer as an option. My GPA is a 3.9. I am not a lazy student looking to rip on some professor because he gave me a bad grade. This guy is just impossible and will give you an unbearable workload that will stress you out BIG TIME! He is a Harvard graduate and he definitely lets you know it! He comes off all cool and easygoing and then 1/2 way through the semester he has you crying. Don't fall for it. Stay away. Take Bio or something. This astronomy course is not easy, fun, or fulfilling.

Basics astrophysics calculations. Using calculus to solve problems. Improved python/coding skills.

I love Professor Agueros and I love this class. I'm a Barnard psych major taking astronomy to fulfill my outside science, and the kid inside me that loved learning about the solar system in elementary school is completely satisfied. Professor Agueros is really engaging and thoughtful. His lectures remind me a bit of high school courses: he encourages questions, takes time to explain things repeatedly, and uses real-world examples to get his points across. He does a lot of think-pair-share/vote-think-pair-share activities where you consult your neighbor to answer a specific question, and he also loves assigning lecture tutorials, where you spend a portion of class working with a partner to answer a worksheet. He carries the partner theme onto the actual exams: you take the exam individually, turn it in, then take the exact same exam with a partner. The grades are averaged if they help you, and the partner exam is ignored if it hurts you. It's a really nice, albeit strange, grading style. My only gripe is that there was no syllabus until halfway through the semester.

This was one of the coolest classes I've ever taken, and Professor Agueros was the perfect fit. Because of the low number of people taking the course, he replaced the midterm and final this semester with a midterm presentation (on really cool astrophysics topics like gamma ray bursts and Type Ia supernovae) and an oral final (everyone studied the same paper for this final, which was about the effects of mass loss on the evolution of high-mass stars). Both were pretty enjoyable to study for and they were DEFINITELY preferable to taking a legit midterm or final. He did end up asking some difficult questions on the spot, but he'd always try, at least, to point you towards the answer. The lectures were always interesting. I slept less in this class than I have in any other class, which says a lot. Professor Agueros had a lot of really neat Powerpoints, he'd always derive the equations (but wouldn't take a crazy long time with derivations), he always spent the right amount of time between the powerpoint and the board, and - this is, to me, the best thing - he ALWAYS made sure to emphasize exactly why what he was talking about was important. Always. It was really, really refreshing to experience a professor do this, especially in a class where some of the math can get away from the physical meaning. We'd always have to think about the results we got in a larger context (i.e. "What d…

I learned a lot about the fundamental physics and astronomy behind star composition, appearance, and their life cycle.

In this class, I studied astronomical objects through the principles of physics to try and understand the intricacies of our universe by examining things like the sun, solar system, exoplanets, dark matter, black holes, the interstellar medium, and other relevant parts of our cosmology. I also strengthened my coding skills, specifically in Python for various assignments